Empty
by Lothar Hex
Summary: Judy's in the hospital, and Nick can't be there all the time. What's it like when your home loses it's soul?


"Get some rest Nick you're not doing yourself any favours," Judy said on the other end of the phone line.

"I know, I just miss you," Nick said, sniffling. He wiped the mucus from his nose as he did so.

"Your Mom's here until visiting hours' end, and then I'll just sleep. I'll be seen soon OK?"

"How's the pain?" Nick asked, changing the subject in an attempt to extend the conversation.

"It's still there, the meds are helping. Look, we'll know more tomorrow, get some rest OK?"

"OK…" Nick said finally realising he was going to have to end the call for her sake. "I love you Fluff."

"I love you too Slick. Goodnight."

"Night," Nick said just as Judy ended the call. He tossed the phone on the couch and breathed out. Two days without Judy being home, stuck at the hospital, and he was already a mess. It wasn't as if she'd been hurt in the line of duty either! They'd just been chilling at home on Sunday when Judy doubled over in agony. She'd had pain during her periods before, but nothing like this. When the pain didn't abate, Nick rushed her to the emergency room, where they applied meds and sent her home after a few hours. She'd taken the next day off work to relax, and Nick had gone in and managed to convince Bogo to give him the Tuesday off to keep an eye on her. Then at noon on Tuesday, the pain returned, and having none of that shit, Nick took Judy to a different hospital where she'd been in for two nights.

Things started badly enough for the couple as they sat in the waiting room for a doctor, Judy doubled over in pain, while others who were in less discomfort were being seen before them, Nick had tried getting someone to see her earlier but to no avail, it actually took the intervention of another patient, a hippo, to let them be seen before her. Nick was grateful and really wished he could have found out the name of the mammal. Then everyone kept giving them odd looks when they said he was her husband, expecting a buck.

That wasn't the worst of it though

The gynaecologist had seen them and it turned out Judy had fibroid tumours on her uterus, which had caused the initial discomfort. But now they suspected she also had a cyst on her ovary. This was causing her pain to increase a hundred-fold. They needed to do more tests and scans to see if surgery was needed immediately or if they could manage the pain to get it looked at properly so Judy could have kids.

The couple had argued with the doctor vehemently that they didn't want kids, and even if they did it wasn't worth the pain Judy was in. In some of her more agonising moments, she'd whispered that she just wanted the pain to stop even if she stopped living. This wrenched Nick's heart so much, but the fucking doe doctor seemed utterly confused by a young rabbit not wanting kids. It had taken both of them shouting for her to finally get the message. They'd even just came out and said they'd just adopt if they wanted kids that badly after the surgery but it still took far more effort than it should have

Then came the realisation that even knowing they didn't want children, it seemed the choice was being taken away from them. It was weird and they weren't sure how to feel.

Nick had to leave the hospital while Judy got the drugs she needed to manage the pain. He'd just gone home and straight to sleep not even bothering with the dishes that needed doing or the laundry. The next day he went to work but was so near useless, Bogo had stuck him in records where he could mope and do the work as fast as he felt like, which wasn't quick by any means. He also didn't have many vacation days left, Judy insisting he kept them for another time. Plus the precinct was short staffed to begin with due to a swine flu outbreak that had made all the porcine officers housebound.

He'd come home and…no scratch that. This wasn't a home, without Judy it was nothing but four walls. A place he kept his stuff. It wasn't alive anymore, it was empty and lifeless, and he swore it was even colder without his bunny. He walked around the home remembering when they'd cooked meals together, did the laundry, watched TV and how magical and wonderful that felt in comparison to the silence that enveloped him now. Hell, even when they were in separate rooms, doing separate things, the house felt more alive.

He tried to while away the time before going to sleep. He tried to watch some videos on ZooTube, got bored and then tried to watch something on Petflix instead, but couldn't find anything. He started a game of _Wolfenstein: The New Pawder_ on the XFox One, but turned it off after a few minutes. He went online and opened _Steed_ on his PC and browsed the sale, finding a game he liked for less than $5. He bought it and downloaded it, but couldn't be bothered to start. He then browsed Preddit, but even the multitude of funny iguana videos failed to make him smile, hell he ended up going on the politics threads and making himself angry.

He picked up one of the multitude of Transfurmers action figures that dotted his home office. Since moving in with Judy he'd started collecting them, remembering the show when he was a kid and happy to see the franchise still alive and well. He fiddled with it, got bored, then went back online, browsing the shops he bought from and finding a new one he wanted, ordering it. With that done he found himself bored again, so he decided to do the one thing the terminally bored always turned to. Porn.

But even that was hollow. Oh OK it had always been hollow but at least when Judy was here there was the slightly thrill of being caught by her…and the second thrill when she watched it with him. He masturbated, of course, but it didn't do anything but filled time. He got bored of the same old videos so started browsing for the weird shit, but quickly lost his appetite when he'd stumbled across a rabbit trying to take a dildo the size of her waist. He turned it off and sighed, checking the time. It was 10:30 pm, not as late as he usually went to sleep, but not so late that he couldn't justify an early night.

He'd been sleeping more since Judy had gone in to hospital, the sweet release of unconsciousness meaning he didn't have to deal with the fact Judy was in pain, and alone. He stripped of sleeping naked as always and crawled in to the empty bed, he naturally went to his side and turned over, leaning on his left facing towards Judy's side of the bed. He always fell asleep like that, wanting her to be the last thing he saw when he fell asleep. The empty void just knotted his gut and caused him to silently weep. He reached over and grabbed her pillow, wanting to have something that at least smelled like her near. He checked the time and sighed, noting he'd been awake an hour. Still, he'd drop off eventually, and have to face tomorrow without his bunny again.

The only thing that was giving him solace right now was that every day, the day Judy got the treatment she needed and came home got closer.

He closed his eyes and let the empty void claim him for now, hoping tomorrow would bring his mate back to him.

* * *

 **Notes:**

So yeah, my wife is in the hospital as I write this. Pretty much all the events in the story happened to us. I'm bored, anxious, angry, and worst of all lonely. Writing helps me deal with this shit.


End file.
